Tragedy struck Pader district in northern Uganda when seven people were burnt to death as a bush fire engulfed the field they were working on, local media reported on Wednesday.
The tragedy happened at about 1:00 pm local time (1000 GMT) on Tuesday and seven family members were killed. The victims were a 40-year-old woman, her 65-year-old mother and five of her children. Her three-year-old twins were also killed in the accident.
The woman's husband is a Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF) soldier based in Gulu district. The family had gone to visit the woman's mother in Ojile village in Pajule, Aruu County when tragedy struck.
According to the officer in charge of Pajule police station Jackson Odokopira, "the family had gone to harvest peas from their garden when a wild fire engulfed and burnt them to death."
"We still do not know the cause of the fire but we are investigating to find out the person or people who could have started it and have them arrested and prosecuted," Odokopira was quoted by the state-owned New Vision daily as saying.
According to the Pader district woman MP Franka Judith Akello, the fire could have been started by hunters who were looking for edible rats and other wild animals.
Source: Xinhua
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